Jesus and the Rapture. Dr. Andy Woods

Jesus and the Rapture Dr. Andy Woods

John 14:1-4 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going."

Preview (John 14:1-4) I. Preliminary reasons II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 III. Answering the non-rapture arguments John 14:1 4 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going."

I. Preliminary Reasons A. Significance of the Upper Room Discourse (John 13 17) B. Eschatological flavor of the Upper Room Discourse C. Early church fathers D. Jewish marriage analogy E. Parallels with other rapture texts

II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 vs. 1- Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. Christ s announced departure (13:1) Comfort (14:1)

II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 vs. 2- In My Father's house are many dwelling places I go to prepare a place for you. My Father s house Many dwellings I go

II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 Summary John 14:2 teaches that Christ will return to the very heaven from which He came in order to prepare temporary dwellings for His disciples.

II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 vs. 3- If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. I will come Again And receive you To Where

II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 vs. 3- And receive you to myself Summary: Christ will physically return to spatially remove believers and to take them to be with Him

II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 vs. 3- that where I am you may be also Summary: Jesus will return to take the believer to the place where He is. This place can hardly be the earth since there would be no need for Him to build the heavenly dwellings spoken of in the preceding verses.

II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 vs. 4- And you know the way where I am going. Going (hypagō) "used esp. of Christ and his going to the Father, characteristically of J...J 7:33; 16:5a;...10, 17...13:3...8:14a;...21b, 22; 13:33;...36b...8:21a...14:28...13:36a; 14:4, 5; 16:5b; 1J 2:11. (BDAG, p. 1028) Ascension

Conclusion Christ would return through His Ascension to His Father's heavenly abode. He would then prepare temporary dwellings for His disciples. He would return for His disciples in the future. His return would be just as personal as was His First Coming and Ascension. He would physically take believers to be with Him by spatially drawing them to Himself.

Conclusion Purpose of this event is so that believers could dwell in their prepared, temporal, heavenly places and be with Christ where He is. This information would serve as a comfort to the disciples who were troubled over the announcement over His soon departure (John 13:1). Christ unfolded the reality of this event for the purpose of comforting His disciples (John 14:1).

New Mystery Truth But here in John 14 the Lord gives a new and unique revelation; He speaks of something which no prophet had promised, or even could promise. Where is it written that this Messiah would come and instead of gathering His saints into an earthly Jerusalem, would take them to the Father's house, to the very place where He is? It is something new. Arno C. Gaebelein, The Gospel of John, 268.

Rapture Distinct from Second Advent Rapture (1 Thess 4:13-17; 1 Cor 15:51-57) Christ comes in the air (1 Thess 4:16-17) Second Coming (Rev 19:11-16) Christ comes to the earth (Zech 14:4) For His saints (1 Thess 4:15-17) With His saints (Rev 19:14) Blessing (1 Thess 4:18) Judgment (Rev 19:15) Effects only believers (1 Thess 4:16) Primary Impact on the Church (1 Thess 4:16) Announced only by an archangel (1 Thess 4:16) Resurrection (1 Cor 15: 51) Effects both believers and unbelievers (Rev 19:15) Visible to all (Rev 1:7) Involves myriads of angels (Jude 14) No resurrection Rescue of the church (1 Thess 1:10) Rescue of Israel (Matt 23:37-39)

III. Inadequate Alternatives A. Believer's death B. Believer's salvation C. Christ s resurrection D. Coming of the Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2) E. Non-pretribulational rapture

III. Inadequate Alternatives A. Believer's death 1. Again (palin) = 1x 2. Angels take deceased believers to heaven (Luke 16:22) 3. Christ remains in heaven when believers die (Acts 7:56) 4. Believers go to the lord upon death (2 Cor 5:8)

II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 vs. 3- I will come again Again (palin) "The coming again is the counterpart of the going away; visibly Jesus ascends, visibly he returns, Acts 1:9-11. (Lenski, p. 974) "to repetition in the same (or similar) manner, again, once more, anew of someth. a pers. has already done. (BDAG, p. 752)

III. Inadequate Alternatives A. Believer's death B. Believer's salvation C. Christ s resurrection D. Coming of the Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2) E. Non-pretribulational rapture

III. Inadequate Alternatives B. Believer's Salvation 1. Again (palin) = 1x 2. Allegorization of localized language describing a heavenly- Father s house, dwelling places, a place, where I am, where I go

III. Inadequate Alternatives A. Believer's death B. Believer's salvation C. Christ s resurrection D. Coming of the Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2) E. Non-pretribulational rapture

III. Inadequate Alternatives C. Christ s resurrection (John 14:18-20; 20:19, 26; 21:1) 1. Christ comes after the Ascension ( I go ) rather than before 2. Again (palin) = like His first coming which was from heaven rather than out of a tomb 3. To (pros) = No spatial movement involved with the resurrected Christ coming to His disciples

II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 vs. 2-In My Father's house are many dwelling places I go to prepare a place for you. I go Jesus came from (John 16:28; 17:5) and is going back to heaven (John 13:12; 14:12; 16:28) Poreuomai= Ascension (Acts 1:10-11; 1 Pet 3:22)

II. Exegesis of John 14:1-4 vs. 3- And receive you to myself Receive (paralambanō): "to take into close association, take (to oneself), take with/along...i will take you to myself J 14:3...with me to my home. (BDAG, p. 767) To (pros): "pros with the Accusative...This is very common and denotes movement 'towards.'...spatially, 'to or towards someone or something,' primarily with an intransitive or transitive verb expressing movement. (TDNT, p. 721). Summary: Christ's return to spatially remove believers and to take them to be with Him

III. Inadequate Alternatives A. Believer's death B. Believer's salvation C. Christ s resurrection D. Coming of the Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2) E. Non-pretribulational rapture

III. Inadequate Alternatives D. Coming of the Spirit in Acts 2 1. Again (palin) - like His first coming yet Acts 2 was not a bodily 2. To (pros) - No spatial movement involved with the Spirit coming to the church 3. Receive you to Myself - The Holy Spirit did not receive believers in Acts 2 but believers received the Holy Spirit (John 20:22; Acts 2:38; 8:15-17).

III. Inadequate Alternatives A. Believer's death B. Believer's salvation C. Christ s resurrection D. Coming of the Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2) E. Non-pretribulational rapture

RAPTURE VIEW COMPARISION PRETRIBULATION MIDTRIBULATION POSTTRIBULATION PREWRATH RAPTURE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION RAPTURE 1000 years Millennium RAPTURE & REVELATION 7 YEAR TRIBULATION 7 YEAR TRIBULATION No Wrath RAPTURE 1000 years Millennium 1000 years Millennium Beginning of Sorrows Great Tribulation 1000 years Millennium

Two Themes Comfort John 14:1 Imminence John 14:3

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words."

Promised Exemption from Divine Wrath The promise (1 Thess 1:10; 5:9; Rom 5:9; Rev 3:10) Tribulation = divine wrath (Rev 6:17; 11:18; 15:1, 7; 16:19)

Tribulation Judgments

Rev. 6:16-17 "The verb ēlethen ("has come") is aorist indicative, referring to a previous arrival of wrath, not something that is about to take place. Men see the arrival of this day at least as early as the cosmic upheavals that characterize the sixth seal (6:12-14), but upon reflection they probably recognize that it was already in effect with the death of one-fourth of the population (6:7-8), the worldwide famine (6:5-6), and the global warfare (6:3-4). The rapid sequence of all of these events could not escape notice, but the light of their true explanation does not dawn upon human consciousness until the severe phenomena of the sixth seal arrive." Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1 7: An Exegetical Commentary, ed. Kenneth Barker (Chicago: Moody, 1992), 457-58.

Pretribulationism is not Escapism Trials (John 16:33) Man s wrath (2 Tim 3:12) Satan s wrath (Eph 6:11-12) World s wrath (John 15:18-19)

Two Themes Comfort John 14:1 Imminence John 14:3

Imminence Imminency definition James 5:8; 1 Thess 1:10; 4:15; 1 Cor 1:7; 15:51; Philip 3:20 Other rapture views deny imminence

Where He Is? Since He says He is going to come in order that we may be with Him where he is, we would have to be with Him here on earth. Do you see the problem? The dwelling places in the Father's house would be unused...this makes Jesus' whole promise ridiculous. Why would He speak of preparing a place for us in the Father's house if He didn't mean that His return would take us there? Hal Lindsey, The Rapture, 43.

III. Inadequate Alternatives A. Believer's death B. Believer's salvation C. Christ s resurrection D. Coming of the Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2) E. Non-pretribulational rapture

Conclusion